Ropes & Gray has hired a trio of lawyers from Latham & Watkins to open an office in Milan, as the US firm continues its push into European private equity.
Partners Cataldo Piccarreta and Giorgia Lugli have joined Ropes’ private equity group alongside Luca Maranetto, who has made partner on the move, having been an associate at Latham. Piccarreta will serve as a co-head of Ropes’ European PE transactions practice.
The new office follows the firm opening its first base in continental Europe, in Paris, earlier this year, with a three-partner PE and banking and finance team hired from Clifford Chance. Ropes said the Milan office aligned with its ongoing investment in its European capabilities and addressed growing client demand for cross-border expertise.
Following its launch in Milan, there are now 16 top 100 US firms with offices in the city, according to publicly available data tracked by Pirical.
Ropes’ chair, Julie Jones, pointed to Italy as a key market for many of Ropes’ clients. The country was the fastest-growing private equity market in Europe in 2024, with deal volume more than doubling from the prior year to €61bn, and it surpassed the Netherlands to become the fourth-largest private equity market in Europe by total investment.
Jones added the incoming team “will help us to move faster and more seamlessly across many of the geographies where our private equity clients are pursuing their most compelling opportunities”.
Piccarreta has spent the past eight years as a partner at Latham, having earlier been London office head at legacy Italian firm Gattai Minoli and a local partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf.
He advises private equity funds and corporates on transactions including high-profile buyouts and joint ventures; notable work at Latham included leading the team that advised Bain Capital on the acquisition of chemical manufacturer Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici in 2023.
Meanwhile, Lugli advises multinational private equity firms, financial institutions and companies operating in Italy on investments, M&A transactions and restructurings. She worked with Piccarreta on the Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici deal and co-led the team with him that acted for European PE firm Bluegem Capital Partners on the sale of luxury home fragrance brand, Dr. Vranjes Firenze, to L’Occitane Group.
She made partner at Latham in 2021, having joined the firm seven years earlier as an associate from Linklaters.
Piccarreta described Ropes as “an ideal home” for the team, noting its focus on private equity and longstanding relationships with some of the world’s leading sponsors like Advent International and Bain Capital.
“Italy offers tremendous opportunities as a rapidly expanding market for private equity, M&A and direct investment,” Piccarreta said. “We’re energised to partner with clients who are already leading in the Italian market, as well as those who aspire to do business in the region.”
Ropes jumped 10 places to 22nd in the London Stock Exchange Group’s global M&A legal adviser rankings for the first half of the year, after working on 120 deals worth just under $70bn.
Largest Top 100 US Law Firms in Milan by Headcount
| 1 | DLA Piper | 139 | 6 | Latham & Watkins | 53 |
| 2 | Dentons | 91 | 7 | White & Case | 39 |
| 3 | Hogan Lovells | 88 | 8 | Cleary Gottlieb | 38 |
| 4 | Baker McKenzie | 67 | 9 | K&L Gates | 37 |
| 5 | Greenberg Traurig | 65 | 10 | Orrick | 36 |
Ropes, which had revenue of $3.4bn in 2024, is one of a number of international law firms to have set up shop in Milan or grown its bench there recently, drawn by the city’s booming direct lending market.
Since the start of last year, Fieldfisher relaunched in Milan with a team from its former Italian ally, and Bird & Bird secured a seven-lawyer finance team from Hogan Lovells, which in turn hired corporate and finance teams from Orrick and White & Case.
Greenberg Traurig also added a five-strong group of banking and finance lawyers from Italian firm Molinari Agostinelli to expand its Milan office.
Latham, meanwhile, maintains a substantial presence in Milan. The office, which opened in 2008, houses 51 legal professionals, according to the firm’s website. That gives it the sixth-largest presence of any top 100 US law firm, according to publicly available data tracked by Pirical (see table, above).
Top 100 US firms housed 746 legal professionals in Milan at the end of August, a figure that has remained virtually unchanged over the last three years.
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